Note particularly some of the contortions that spokespeople for Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Mike Rogers (R-MI) are having to go through:

The lawmakers staffs since have parsed the comments by their bosses, distinguishing between violations of the law governing electronic surveillance and the deliberate violations of the 1981 executive order.

The deliberate actions didnât violate the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act or the USA Patriot Act, the NSA said in its statement. Instead, they overstepped 1981 Executive Order 12333, issued by President Ronald Reagan, which governs U.S. intelligence operations.